Video shows Lakewood Church shooter Genenesse Moreno wearing a trench coat outside her car as the vehicle reverses into the garage, hours before she opened fire at the place of worship.
On Sunday, the 36-year-old went to Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston, armed with two guns and wearing a trench coat with her 7-year-old son Samuel by her side, and started shooting.
Chilling images obtained by KTRK shows Moreno outside her home in Conroe, Texas, hours before she went on a rampage.
The video shows the shooter wearing black pants and a tank top and walking around her car with a trench coat hanging from her arm.
Moreno backed her car up close to the garage and hung a tarp blocking the view of anything going in or out of the vehicle.
Video shows Lakewood Church shooter Genenesse Moreno wearing a trench coat outside her car hours before the shooting
Moreno backed her car up close to the garage and hung a tarp blocking the view of anything going in or out of the vehicle
On Sunday, the 36-year-old (pictured in 2022) headed to Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston armed with two guns and wearing a trench coat, with her 7-year-old son Samuel by her side.
The video shows the shooter wearing black pants and a tank top and walking around her car with a trench coat hanging from her arm
Immediately after she started shooting, two off-duty police officers working security at Lakewood Church shot her, killing her.
Her seven-year-old son is still in the hospital clinging to life after his mother took him away on her rampage, putting him in the line of fire for the off-duty officers who killed her.
It remains unclear who exactly shot the boy – whether it was his mother, or the two men who intervened to take her down.
He remains in hospital with a grim prognosis. His paternal grandmother – Walli Carranza, who lives in Mexico – flew to his bedside.
Through a family spokesperson, she told DailyMail.com today how she and her son have been trying to gain custody of Sam for the past four years.
“He wanted custody because he didn’t believe she was capable of raising him,” said longtime friend Connie Eicher.
“First, she was mentally ill. They never knew when she would be good and when she wouldn’t be good.’
Moreno had been diagnosed by proxy with schizophrenia and Munchhausen.
Eicher said Moreno used Sam as a “bargaining chip” and would disappear as soon as her ex-husband, Enrique Alberto Carranza, tried to see him.
Immediately after she started shooting, two off-duty police officers working security at Lakewood Church shot her, killing her. In the photo: a boy leaving the church crying on the phone during the shooting
Moreno’s son was shot during the rampage. It is still unclear who exactly shot the boy. Pictured: Crowd leaving the church during the shooting
Moreno’s 7-year-old son Samuel (right) remains in hospital fighting for his life after being shot in the head during the disaster
Carranza told KTRK, “She threatened the life of my son and my grandson, and she endangered my grandson for seven years, not just now. But underneath it all was a woman who simply needed treatment.”
It remains unclear how she was able to legally purchase the AR-15 she used in the shooting, or why she was allowed to retain custody of the boy.
Texas Child Protective Services has yet to respond to DailyMail.com’s questions about the case.
On Facebook, Carranza said she blames the state of Texas for his injury.
“No one should ever blame a police officer who is performing his or her rightful duty to save lives, even if he or she is found responsible for the shooting of my grandson.
“The fault lies with Montgomery County and Harris County Child Protective Services for refusing to revoke custody of a woman with a known mental illness who was not being treated, and with the state of Texas for not having strong red flag laws that would have kept her from may deter from owning or possessing a weapon.”
Moreno used several names, including Jeffery Escalante. That name was given to the police during her previous run-ins with the police. Moreno was born in the Middle East and railed against Jews.
“Although my former daughter-in-law railed against Israel and Jews in a pro-Palestinian tirade yesterday, this has nothing to do with Judaism or Islam,” her mother-in-law said.
Moreno had been diagnosed by proxy with schizophrenia and Munchhausen. It is unclear how she was able to legally purchase the AR-15 she used in the shooting
Moreno was previously arrested for assault, weapons, marijuana possession and forgery
Moreno seen in 2000
At some point her family moved to El Salvador before moving to the Houston area.
Moreno’s mother, who was her only source of support, left town some time before the shooting.
Eicher believes Moreno felt hopeless, which led her to attend the church where her mother was a member: Lakewood.
“She could have shot the entire congregation if they hadn’t stopped her,” Eicher added.
Investigators also found anti-Semitic writings in Moreno’s car after the shooting. One of the weapons she had had a sticker on it that said “Palestine.”
“I wasn’t surprised when I heard that there had been anti-Semitic rants because they were trying to take the baby away from her,” the rabbi’s friend stated.
“I think she used him as a shield. I think she thought she was protected as long as she had him.”
The shooting occurred between services at the megachurch, which is attended by 45,000 people each week, making it the third-largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Osteen’s television sermons reach approximately 100 countries.
Osteen said the shooting could have been much worse if it had occurred during the larger 11 a.m. service
It was not clear where Osteen was at the time, but he joined police at a news conference afterward and said the church was “destroyed.”
He added that the shooting could have been much worse if it had occurred during the larger 11 a.m. service.
He added that he would pray for the victims and for the woman who committed the shooting and their families.
“We will stay strong and we will continue to do so, moving forward,” Osteen said after authorities spoke.
“There are forces of evil, but the forces that are for us – the forces of God – are stronger than that. So we’re going to keep going strong and righteous, you know, and doing what God has called us to do: lift people up and give hope to the world.”